Wilting Roses
by MyBlueBird
Summary: Tamaki has started getting sick as of late. It worries the host club greatly, and little do they know his illness with change all there lives forever. HaruhixTamaki, Rated T for language. Disclaimer- I do not own OHSHC in any way, shape, or form.
1. Chapter 1

~*Wilting Roses*~

Haruhi had noticed that Tamaki hadn't been acting the same as he normally did. No one else had noticed it, but every so often she'd notice things that just seemed to be off about him. Only a few months before had she started eating lunch with the rest of the hosts, she'd noticed Tamaki wouldn't eat as much of his lunch as he used to. She never brought it up in public though; she didn't want to make it seem like he was anorexic if he had some other reason for not eating lunch during school.

"I'm just not hungry Haruhi," he'd tell her with a carefree smile. "I'll eat when I get home, don't worry, nothing's wrong."

But Haruhi didn't fully believe he was alright. It wasn't just that Tamaki was loosing his appetite frequently; she'd noticed he'd even started getting a little paler.

"Haruhi," he'd begin, "I just haven't been outside as much as I was; beside Haruhi, isn't it normal to loose a tan in the winter months?"

She'd also taken notice that he'd have to stay home sick much more often than he used to. Whenever she asked Kyouya about it, he would tell her Tamaki just had a cold, and that he would be returning to school tomorrow. The next time Haruhi would see him, he'd smile, hug her, and ask her if she missed him.

"Did my beloved daughter miss me~?" he would say while hugging and spinning her around.

"Senpai, you're crushing me-" Haruhi would respond- his grip was so tight that she really couldn't breathe. He would immediately let her go.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to crush you!"

Haruhi would let out a soft laugh. "Senpai it's alright, I'm fine." She would smile for a few seconds, but all she could wonder about was if he was okay today.

Even though Tamaki would occasionally miss days of school, Host Club activities ran smoothly. Tamaki actually started gaining more customers; they would worry where he was or if he was alright or not. And afterwords, when all the guests had left Music Room 3, the seven friends would plan for upcoming events and goof around like they normally did.

"Boss, what are you thinking about?" Hikaru would start.

"You're face is super red!" Kaoru finished.

At the same time, they'd both say- "I bet the boss is being a perv and thinking about Haruhi again!"

"I'm not doing anything like that!" Tamaki would yell defensively- his face would redden even more just at the thoughts that came to his head.

"Senpai's a big old perv! Senpai's a big old perv!"

Haruhi actually wished that it just was Tamaki being a pervert and not anything more serious. She would notice Tamaki's face flare up and random points in the day- she once brushed her hand over his by "accident", and was able to tell his hand was even a little warm. Every time Tamaki's face were to flare up like it did, she knew that he had a fever that couldn't really be explained. She honestly didn't think it was Tamaki's dirty mind.

It didn't take Haruhi very long to piece together the different symptoms the prince would show. She never got the chance to discuss this with anyone else because no one else noticed. There was one time where she asked Kyouya, but he mearly told her that he didn't have any official information about things that could be wrong with him. So she just didn't ask him anymore.

During a game of Hide and Seek, Haruhi had scene Tamaki trip more than once. (There were even a few instances where she'd have to ask herself "Where did those banana peels come from...?") The fact that he was tripping didn't concern her at all really; she knew how clumsy Tamaki could get. She wasn't concerned until she noticed that his wrist had bruised rather easily- she didn't think that he'd fallen that hard on it.

"Tama-chan, Tama-chan! Are you okay?" Honey asked the prince. He'd hopped off Mori's shoulders once the game was over.

"Yes, I'm okay, I just fell on my wrist! That's all!"

"Boss, I don't remember you bruising that easily," Kaoru said, with only a slight hint of concern in his voice.

"Really? I thought he's always bruised like a peach," his twin said.

"I bruise like a normal person!"

So both of the twins continuously poked his arm, poking him hard enough so that it actually hurt a little bit.

"Knock it off you two, that hurts! Why are you trying to get me to bruise anyway? You can't do it if you're just poking me!" Tamaki attempted to swat the twins hands away, but whenever he did they would just poke him somewhere else. Tamaki even attempted to run away from them (though he only ran in a circle, so it didn't help very much), but doing so, he fell on his face.

"The boss sure is clumsy today!"

Haruhi didn't think that Tamaki was even acting the same at all. Sure, to everyone else he was still the same flamboyant and narcissistic prince that they loved, but Haruhi was able to notice a difference. And she was able to notice a difference because she vaguely remembered similar things happening to her mother before she passed away. That not only scarred her, but it made her even more worried.

When she was at home by herself, she even shed tears.

_'Please... Please don't take him away too...'_


	2. Chapter 2

It wasn't long before Haruhi began noticing changes in Kyouya too. Haruhi knew he was hiding something, and it wasn't long before the other hosts started nothing it too. The changes were so present that even some of the customers noticed.

"Tamaki, is something wrong with Kyouya...?" one of his regular customers asked.

"I don't think so...?" Tamaki responded, cocking his head slightly to the side while looking at his best friend. "He has been acting a little bit off though, don't you agree?"

The young woman nodded, looking at Tamaki. "I know that many people are worrying about him...!"

Tamaki smiled and lightly grabbed onto her chin flirtatiously. "Let's not worry about Kyouya my princess, it's just you and me right now~"

She squealed, and it caused some of the other customers who were watching to squeal too. The customer blushed faintly, and a smile graced her lips.

The rest of the afternoon went smoothly. The customers went home when the host club was over for the day. A meeting was being held directly afterwards, however, nothing really got done at the meeting.

"Tama-chan, would you like to have some cake with me~?" Honey asked, while clutching onto Tamaki's arm.

Tamaki winced. "N-No, no, I'm not hungry right now Hunny; Maybe I'll have some later, okay?"

Hunny looked at him with a confused expression. "Tama-chan, are you hurt..?"

"No, why would I be Hunny-senpai?"

Haruhi answered before Hunny could. "You're wincing."

Hunny took a step back when Kyouya came towards Tamaki and swiftly pulled the sleeve of his shirt and blazer up. There was a large bruise on his arm where Hikaru and Kaoru had been poking him days before.

Both the twins were completely stunned. They had no idea they'd bruised him as badly as they did.

"Boss, we're really sorry, we didn't think you'd bruise _that_ easily...!"

"I can go get ice!"

"Hunny, ice won't help it. It's been too long for ice to be effective," Kyouya spoke sharply and quick to the point. Hunny was even a little intimidated.

"Oh... Alright..." Hunny ran over to Mori, who picked him up and placed him on his shoulders while the Loli-Shota clutched onto his stuffed bunny.

"Kyouya, don't be so mean to Hunny, he didn't know," Tamaki said, trying to defend him. Kyouya remained silent.

"Is your other arm bruised too Senpai?" Haruhi asked shyly.

"Eh, yes, it is... But it's just a bruise, it'll go away soon. But more importantly," Tamaki's mood quickly changed, "Is my daughter really worried about me~?"

As sarcastically as the female host could make it seem, she replied, "Heh, that's it."

Tamaki hugged her- Haruhi noticed that his hug wasn't as tight as it used to be. She didn't say a word about it. "My daughter really is worried~! She does love me~!"

Kyouya clapped his hands to get everyone's attention once again. "We still have a meeting we need to get to."

"That's right, we do~!" Tamaki responded, his spirits very high.

The Host's meeting only lasted an hour. They discussed new themes, the status with everyone's clients, and a brief note on the finances. When everything was said and done, Kyouya left.

"Tama-chan...?" Hunny asked feebly.

"Yes Hunny?"

"Kyou-chan looked like he needed a hug."

Tamaki nodded softly. "I think he needs one too."

In reality, Tamaki had already known what was causing Kyouya's mood changes. Kyouya had read into Tamaki's medical file, he presumed, and found many recent hospital records. Kyouya had put up a defensive barrier, to hide the fact that he was worried about his princely friend.

Tamaki knew he had been sick for months. He'd just been waiting for the results of one final blood test to confirm a diagnosis.


	3. Chapter 3

"Tamaki Suoh, you're needed in the principles office," the secretary of Ouran, a kind elderly woman named Mrs. Inoue, spoke on the school's intercom.

"Ooohhh, boss, what'd you do to get in so much trouble that it landed you in the principles' office~?"

"Only the two of you would be stupid enough to get into so much trouble that you'd be sent to the office."

After Kyouya's harsh comment, the two devilish twins kept their mouths shut.

Tamaki clapped his hands together to gain every customer's attention. He stood in the middle of the room so everyone could easily see him. "Everyone, it seems that due to circumstances I don't quite know yet, I'll be in the office. And because I don't know how long I'll be there, I'm afraid the club activities for today will have to be canceled. I am deeply sorry everyone.." the prince said with a small bow.

On top of Mori's shoulders, Hunny asked his cousin quietly. "Why do you think Tama-chan's got to go to the office, Takashi...?"

Mori simply replied, "I don't know."

"Senpai?"

"Yes Haruhi~?"

It wasn't until then that Haruhi realized she didn't know what she wanted to ask him. "... I was going to make a stew pot for tonight, I wanted to know if you'd want to come over for dinner...?"

"Haruhi, I'd love too~!" the prince said while hugging his 'daughter' tightly and spinning in a circle.

"Can we come too?" the twins asked simultaneously.

"Oh, yeah, sure, I guess."

The twins hugged her as tight as Tamaki, and Hunny hopped down to hug her as well. "Thank you Haru-chan~"

'_What the hell am I getting myself into...?_' She thought to herself.

"Tamaki Suoh, if you're in the building, please report to the principles' office immediately," the intercom said.

Tamaki grabbed his school bag and quickly started making his way out of the club room. Before he left completely though, the turned his head to the rest of the hosts and said, "I'll see you all later~!" And ran down to the office.

He swiftly ran down to the office, not stopping anywhere along the way. Mrs. Inoue said softly, "The chairman wanted to see you Tamaki, he said it was urgent."

Tamaki bowed to her politely. "Thank you Mrs. Inoue," he said, before walking into his father's office. His father was in his office, however he wasn't sitting down at his desk.

"Is something wrong father...?" Tamaki's eyes showed he was slightly worried.

"Yes, Tamaki, there is."

"May I ask what...?"

"The results from your blood work are in. Dr. Sasaki won't discus it over the phone, but he said he wanted to see you at the hospital right away."

"So then it's really serious..."

Yuzuru nodded. Tamaki looked down. "Then let's go. I want to find out what's wrong with me."

They both hurried out to the limousine that had been waiting for their arrival. Throughout the whole ride, Tamaki stayed very silent. Yuzuru stayed silent as well, there weren't words to describe how terribly worried he was. To Tamaki, it felt like centuries before the limo reached the hospital owned by the Ootori family. Nervously he got out, and his father followed.

They waited in the hospital's waiting room for a half an hour. They were called back to visit Dr. Sasaki in his office they were instructed to sit down in the two chairs in front of his desk. Dr. Sasaki was an older, wise man with graying hair and stubble on his face. He wore glasses and he had a slim build. He had been Tamaki's doctor ever since he came to Japan. The silence in the room was nerve-racking.

Dr. Sasaki spoke softly. "The results from your blood tests came back in, Tamaki. The results came back abnormal, and as much as I hate to say this... there were cancer cells detected in your blood."

Tamaki's eyes widened and his mouth was opened slightly. He knew what he was sick with was serious, but something as serious as cancer...? The idea hadn't even crossed his mind. Yuzuru had no idea what to say. Dr. Sasaki continued to speak.

"We identified the cancer as 'Acute Myeloid Leukemia', but it's also known as 'AML'. But you're very lucky, the cancer was caught at a very early stage-"

"Is it... terminal?" Yuzuru said; his voice easily showed he was far beyond worried.

"As of now, no. But I'd really like to refer you an oncologist; this type of cancer can be aggressive, and it can come on suddenly. It's best to treat this as quickly as you possibly can."

Even though it didn't appear to be the case, Tamaki was listening. He could feel tears forming quickly in his eyes, and he was shaking. He was scared. He began crying, not caring who saw him. He wiped his eyes with the palms of his hands, though the tears kept coming. His father stood up and wrapped his arms around him tightly. Tamaki leaned against him, and his crying became harder and louder. Yuzuru held onto him while soothingly rubbing his back.

Dr. Sasaki had many different pamphlets in his hands to give to Tamaki. He waited silently, not interrupting the two of them. Several minutes later, Tamaki started to calm down, but he was still hugging his father. Yuzuru took the pamphlets when he was handed them.

"Tamaki, if I may say one thing," Dr. Sasaki began.

"Y-Yes sir...?"

"You're going to get through this. I don't believe this is going to kill you Tamaki, and I want you to try to stay positive, no matter what the circumstances are."

Tamaki nodded slightly, and got up from his chair to shake his hand. He wiped his eyes with a tissue, and blew his nose.

The two returned back to the main estate, and Tamaki immediately went to his room. He told everyone he wanted to be alone, and it wasn't until almost 6 at night that he remembered that he was supposed to go to Haruhi's house for dinner, and he didn't remember that on his own, the female host called to ask where he was.

"Tamaki, everyone's asking where you're at, the stew pot's cooked and everything already. Where are you?"

Tamaki sniffled before he spoke. "O-Oh, Haurhi, I-I'm sorry, I-I didn't realize it was so late, I-I'll be right over, wait for me, o-okay...?"

Haruhi had no trouble telling that he'd been crying. "Tamaki! What's wrong, are you okay?"

"I-I'll tell everyone over dinner tonight H-Haruhi."

The female host hesitantly replied, "... Alright. I'll see you soon."

The second Haruhi hung up the phone, Hunny gently pulled on her arm to get her attention. "Haru-chan?" he began. "Is something wrong with Tama-chan?"

"It sure sounded like it."

"Do you think it had something to do with him having to leave during the club today?" Hikaru asked his brother.

"Depends on what it is."

Simultaneously, they both said, "He IS still coming, right?"

Haruhi nodded. "He told us to wait for him too. So we will."

Exactly 15 minutes later, a limo arrived in front of Haruhi's apartment building and dropped off the prince. He hadn't bothered to change out of his school uniform since he'd got home. He knocked on the door twice and waited patiently. He wondered if Ranka would be home as well, he didn't now if he'd be able to deal with Haruhi's father at the moment, mentally or physically. Haruhi answered the door, and after seeing his expression, she became increasingly more alarmed. She gently took his arm, and guided him inside her home.

"Boss...?" The twins said, looking to their friend with worry in their eyes. They'd never once scene him this depressed-looking before, unless, of course, it was for some dramatic reason. Tamaki sat down at Haruhi's kotatsu table, and everyone else sat down as well, and all looked to him for an explanation.

"... A-After school today, I had to go down to the hospital to get the results from some blood work I'd got done a few days ago..."

"Tama-chan, are you sick...?"

He nodded. "I'm very sick."

Kyouya bit his lip. He already knew what Tamaki was sick with. And Kyouya's only way of hiding his emotions, were by acting mean to everyone he came in contact with.

"With what...?" was the first words Mori said all evening.

Tamaki didn't immediately respond. "Tama-chan...?" Hunny said quietly.

The prince responded so quietly that it was almost inaudible, though all the hosts heard him perfectly clear.

"I have cancer."


	4. Chapter 4

It was almost sickening to the hosts at how Tamaki was acting the next day. In a way it enraged Kyouya, in such a visible way almost everyone that passed him in the hallways made sure to stay out of his way.

Tamaki was acting as if absolutely nothing was wrong. He smiled, he laughed; at one point in the day he even sang. This only made Kyouya angrier, and even though Tamaki realized this fairly early in the day, he didn't make an effort to change how he behaved.

Haruhi sat with the rest of the hosts at lunch. She brought herself leftovers from the stew pot she made, but she wasn't hungry. Since she didn't eat dinner the night before- Tamaki's news killed everyone's appetites- she'd forced herself to eat a good breakfast. She sat across from the prince at their lunch table, starring at him without really meaning to.

"Haruhi, it isn't polite to stare; of course, you can stare at _me_ all you like, though~" he said before taking a bite of a fancy dish Haruhi didn't know the name of.

"I didn't realize I was starring, senpai," was her only reply.

Still with a smile, the price replied cheerfully, "Does that mean you don't want to stare at me~?"

Rather than explaining, she said, "Yes. That's what it means."

Tamaki ran over to Kyouya frantically. "Mommy! Haruhi doesn't love me anymore; I don't know what to do!" Kyouya remained silent as Tamaki continued to talk, though he might as well have been talking to a wall, because Kyouya wasn't listening. "What if she doesn't want to be friends anymore Mommy, is that a sign?"

Instead of letting him think the nonsense he was thinking, Haruhi interrupted, "Just because I don't want to stare at you doesn't mean I don't want o to be your friend, senpai."

With a drastic shift in his mood, Tamaki ran up to Haruhi, smiling happily. "You do love me~!" he said, and hugged her as tightly as his weak body could. No one realized it but Hunny, but he figured that acting like this probably tired him out a great deal.

"Senpai, stop trying to hug me so tightly, you're going to end up getting hurt-"

"Haruhi, I'm fine, don't worry about me," the prince's voice was still happy and his smile was soft and reassuring.

'_You are far from fine, senpai…'_ She thought to herself, and she sighed softly.

"What's wrong Haruhi?"

She turned her head to him and said "Just get off me, I want to eat," which was completely a lie, but was a way to avoid the question.

Reluctantly the prince let her go and returned to his own seat, not attempting to finish eating what he started. Hunny immediately noticed this as he offered him the strawberry from his cake.

"No, no, I don't want any strawberries. But thank you for offering Hunny~"

"Oh, Okay Tama-Chan." He then proceeded to eat the small red fruit. Before anyone could convince Tamaki to eat, the bell for their next class rang loudly throughout the school. All the students hurried out of the large cafeteria with the hosts being some of the last people to leave.

The remaining school hours went by agonizingly slow. It wasn't until her last class that Haruhi realized just how tired she was. She hadn't slept at all in the night before and had been running off energy from tea and coffee all day. But the effects of these were starting to wear off.

"Haruhi Fujioka!"

This immediately made her sit up.

"Sleeping in class is prohibited- I'd like to have a word with you when class is over, Miss Fujioka," her teacher said sternly. Her name was Mrs. Grelle, a young woman with fiery red hair and deep brown eyes, she had started teaching Geometry at Ouran Academy when Tamaki was still a first year.

"Yes Ma'am," she responded.

"Now open up your textbook and write the answers to problems six through twelve on the board, please."

She did so, and was praised because of her correct work. As she sat back down, she found two little notes from both of the twins placed on her desk. From Hikaru, the note asked _'You didn't get any sleep last night either?'_ She nodded her head slightly to him when Mrs. Grelle wasn't looking. From Kaoru, the note read _'You can copy my notes after school today. Are you okay?'_

'_Yes, I'm fine. Just tired. What notes did you take?'_ Swiftly she handed him the note back so Mrs. Grelle wouldn't catch them.

'_Just the same thing we've been working on all week, it's just review.'_

'_I won't need them, then.'_

When school was over Haruhi stayed behind when the rest of her classmates left. _At least I don't have to go to the music room today, Kyouya'd kill me if I was late,_ she thought to herself. Hikaru and Kaoru promised to wait for her outside the classroom, though.

"Haruhi", Mrs. Grelle began. "I don't know what your old school's rules were, but I'm sure sleeping in class there wasn't permitted there either."

Haruhi nodded.

"But this is the first time I've ever seen or heard of you disobeying school rules; don't worry, you're not in trouble, this is just a warning. You don't look like you've gotten any sleep, though. Is something bothering you?"

She nodded again. "Yes ma'am-"

Mrs. Grelle cut her off before she could say anything else. "May I ask what?" Haruhi was hesitant to say anything; she hadn't even told her father yet. "If you don't mind me asking."

She spoke quietly, looking down at the floor. "It's just… someone very close to me's been diagnosed with cancer a few days ago…" Haruhi didn't want to keep talking about this. She liked Mrs. Grelle, but she just wasn't comfortable talking to her about this. She figured that Mrs. Grelle would find out about Tamaki soon anyway, because news spread throughout the school like wildfire. "But I'll make sure to get a good night's sleep this weekend."

Mrs. Grelle could tell she didn't' want to keep talking. "I'm very sorry to hear that Haruhi," she said softly. "I really don't know what to say…"

"It's okay Mrs. Grelle. "

"Oh- I have one more thing to say, before you go."

"Yes ma'am?"

"The next time you pass notes to one of the Hitachiin's during class, I will read them out loud. Is that understood?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Have a good weekend Miss Fujioka." With that, Haruhi walked out of the classroom. Hikaru and Kaoru were waiting exactly where they said they would be, and near them were Hunny, Mori, Tamaki, and Kyouya. Immediately, Tamaki ran over to her and placed his hands lightly- but frantically- on her shoulders.

"Haruhi! I heard you got in trouble in class today, it wasn't because of those shady twins was it?"

"Hey!" they yelled defensively in unison.

"It partially was, but I'm not really in trouble," she said, her voice fairly monotone.

Tamaki hugged his "daughter" happily. "I knew you weren't in trouble, you're too good for that~!" Haruhi let him hug her for a few seconds. It, then, occurred to her everyone was waiting for her, not just the twins, and she had no idea why.

"Why were you guys all waiting for me?"

"Because Haruhi, get this- I'm having what you commoners call a 'sleepover'~! So you have to come to it too~!"

"No offense senpai, but there's no way in hell I'm spending the night with you guys."

"Awhh, but Haruhi..!"

"_Just stop it!_"

Immediately, every single person in the hallway snapped their heads in the direction of the voice. Kyouya, the center of attention, had his hands in angry fists and his teeth were grinding together.


	5. Chapter 5

"_Just stop it!_"

"Kyouya…?" The prince said cautiously. He took a step forward, but Kyouya stayed where he was. "I don't know what I'm doing, exactly..?"

"Quit acting like you're perfectly fine when you clearly aren't, Tamaki!"

Tamaki's eyes widened. "Kyouya, I-"

"I don't want to year your explanations Tamaki!"

A teacher walked out of his classroom because of the noise. The older gentleman was able to hear every word Kyouya shouted, as his door was open. "Kyouya Ootori," he said, loud enough for him to hear. "Class may be over, but there are still afterschool clubs going on, you'll need to lower your voice or leave the premises-"

Rudely interrupting him, Kyouya barked, "I was just leaving, sir." He then proceeded to walk down the main stairs and out the front door of the school.

Tamaki was looking down at the pink floor. Haruhi stood next to him, stunned at what she just heard. '_But I really should've seen this coming…_' she thought to herself. Because of the height difference, she was able to see his face. She gently touched his arm—even though her hand was barely touching him, he felt slightly better.

"Senpai…?"

"You guys," he said quietly. "You can all go home, I'll call you later; I'm going to find Kyouya."

"Alright Boss."

"Do you want to hold Usa-chan while you go searching Tama-chan…?" Hunny said, holding his pink stuffed bunny out to the prince. Tamaki hugged Usa-chan close to his chest.

"Thank you, Hunny."

Tamaki didn't see which direction Kyouya had run too after he left the school grounds. Instead of idly looking around he started to look for clues as to where his friend may have gone, and almost immediately he noticed cars with fist-sized indents on parts of them; none of them were broken in through any of the windows, though. Tamaki followed the trail of these cars, and ended up at a commoner's mall.

'_Kyouya wouldn't do this… would he?_' He thought to himself. Even though he didn't want to believe it he knew it was most likely true.

Once inside the mall, Tamaki began searching on his own. He though it would be a lot faster to have someone help search for Kyouya, but he simply didn't go to anyone that would help. He remembered how irritated Kyouya was the last time he asked for customer service to make an announcement, and he didn't want to repeat that incident, especially if Kyouya was in a bad mood to begin with. He was clutching onto Usa-chan more tightly as the minutes passed and there was still no sign of his friend. '_Maybe he isn't here…'_ he thought sadly. '_I just thought that because of those cars…_' Tamaki sighed. _'I guess not._'

As he was making his way back to the entrance, he found a lost young boy, no bigger in size than Hunny was. He had light brown hair and darker brown eyes that held little flecks of gold. He was crying, sitting on a bench with his feet dangling off it

Tamaki went over to the boy and kneeled down in front of him. "Hi there," he said softly with a friendly smile. "Is there something wrong?"

The boy nodded shakily. "I-I g-got l-lost a-and n-now I-I c-can't f-find m-my m-mommy…!"

"When did the two of you get separated…?" he asked softly.

"N-Not too l-long a-ago…"

"I could help you find your mother, if you would like me to."

"M-Mister, M-Mommy t-tells m-me I s-shouldn't f-follow s-strangers…"

Tamaki hesitated speaking for a minute. He could completely understand where the boy was coming from, as his own mother would tell him things like that all the time when he was the boy's age. Of course he wouldn't immediately trust him; if Tamaki were in the situation the boy was in, he wouldn't trust a stranger either.

"How about this," Tamaki started. "I'll bring you to customer service- they'll make an announcement for your mother to come get you, so that you won't accidentally pass her when you look for her. But if we find her first instead, then you can go back with her."

"O-Okay…"

Tamaki helped the child off the bench. "Do you have a name?"

The boy nodded. "I-I'm Jirou. W-What's your name mister?"

"I'm Tamaki," he said with a smile. He held out a single hand to Jirou, and with the other hand he held Usa-chan. "I'm looking for someone too."

"Who?"

"My friend Kyouya. But I don't know if he's even at this mall."

"Why do you have a pink bunny, Tamaki-san?"

"I'm holding it for a friend~"

Jirou thought Tamaki was odd. Despite how awkward the situation was for him, he stayed quiet and let Tamaki hold onto his hand. "Would you like to hold him? If you do you can't drop him and you have to hold him very close so he doesn't get lost- his name is Usa-chan!"

Reluctantly, Jirou took Usa-chan from Tamaki's hand. "Now, Jirou, what does your mother look like?"

"Mommy's very pretty and she has long curly black hair."

"What color are her eyes?"

"Mommy's eyes used to be really blue."

"They used to be?"

Jirou nodded and held onto Usa-chan slightly tighter. "She can't see anymore," he said quietly. "So now her eyes are just cloudy."

'_That's so sad…!'_ Tamaki thought. _'But it explains how he got separated from his mother so easily…_'

In nearly the blink of an eye, Tamaki's mood completely changed. "Jirou!" he said loudly, not bothering with an honorific.

"Huh?" he was suddenly alarmed, thinking something might've been wrong with Tamaki.

"I've made it a mission, its official now! We _will_ find your mother!"

"S-So you weren't going to find my mom in the first place…?" He pulled his hand away from Tamaki's very quickly. "You _are_ a creeper!"

"Jirou-san, that's not what I was trying to say!"

"…Then what WERE you trying to say…"

"That your mother is most likely worried to death looking- err, trying to find you! So it's of the utmost importance we locate her!"

"Why do you care so much, Tamaki-san?"

Tamaki's mood nearly fell completely. He was completely unaware that he caused a scene, but it slowly started to disperse. He looked down at Jirou. "Don't you want to find your mother, Jirou-san…?"

"Of course I do! But now you just look sad!" '_He's crazy!_'

"Oh…" he said, holding his hand once more as they started walking again. "It's a very complicated story, but… Well you see, I'm not allowed to see my mother anymore."

"Oh," Jirou said, looking up at him quietly. He didn't' understand. "Well do you think you could visit her if nobody knew? We could look for her today!"

"No, I don't think that's possible at all."

"Did you come here with your mommy and get lost too?"

"No, I didn't. Jirou-san, do you know where France is?"

"Yup, I do, I learned where it is in the third grade."

"My mother lives in France."

"Then why are you in Japan?"

"I live with my father now."

"Oh… Well my Mommy and Daddy live together."

Tamaki smiled softly and tried to stubbly change the subject. "That's good, do they get along well?"

"Yes they do!" he said, now with a big happy smile on his face.

They'd nearly circled the whole mall twice before they heard an announcement on the intercom, saying his mother was looking for him in Customer Service. Jirou was extremely happy when he saw his mother and ran up to her and hugged her tightly. "Mom~!"

She hugged him back without moving her head down to him. "Jirou, I told you not to wander off, I was so worried…!" Her eyes were filled with tears, but she wasn't actually crying.

"I'm sorry…" he said and looked down. "But Tamaki-san helped me find you! I thought he was a creeper at first, but he's actually really nice!"

"Is he here right now…?"

"It's a pleasure to meet you Madame," he said, and gently took her hand and kissed the back of it.

She blushed softly. "T-Thank you for bringing my son back to me."

"It was no trouble at all; I couldn't imagine how worried you must have been…"

She quickly nodded while Jirou watched both of them, almost wide eyed. Not once in his life had he seen his mother blush before a complete stranger. Her husband, yes, but not a stranger.

"But I'm sorry you had to go out of your way to bring him back to me, I can't see, so I don't know what I would've done if someone hadn't helped… I'm blind; If I weren't I don't think I'd have this problem…" she said quietly.

"Ma dame," Tamaki said while still lightly holding onto her hand. "What you have isn't a disability in my opinion. Because you can't see, you actually get to see the world in a whole new way; you don't judge people or things by their appearances but by whom they actually are, and that in itself is a very beautiful thing!" He smiled happily, even though he knew she couldn't see it.

The woman smiled at hearing this. Jirou held onto his mother's hand as well, he smiled too, though he didn't really understand what Tamaki meant by that. "I have to get going now, but it was very nice meeting the both of you, and I hope we'll see each other again soon~"

"Thank you Tamaki-san!" Jirou said waving goodbye to him.

Tamaki smiled and walked off- he had another mission to complete, after all; he still needed to find Kyouya.


	6. Chapter 6

It wasn't long after he'd started to look for Kyouya that Tamaki realized he needed to eat something. He honestly wasn't hungry at all; he was nauseated, and he didn't think for a minute that eating would help to relieve that. However, he knew that he hadn't eaten anything since lunch the previous day, and that was only a small serving of soup. He decided he would eat a bowl of rice before continuing on his search.

Thankful he had yen in his pocket, Tamaki paid for his rice and a bottle of water. He sat down alone at a table meant for two and began to pick at his rice with chopsticks. Usa-chan was placed neatly in his lap. The rice neither looked nor smelt appetizing to him in any way, but he forced himself to take small bites. He feared his food wouldn't settle properly, and sipped at his water. He wasn't able to eat even half of his food before he was sure he would be sick. He rushed to the nearest restroom and vomited in the stall closest to the door.

There was only one other man in the restroom at the time, and he was splashing his face with cold water. Hearing the noise from the stall he quickly wiped his face with his sleeve as the fabric was much softer than the paper towels, put his glasses back on, and went to the open stall to investigate. Seeing that the man was Tamaki, Kyouya knelt down next to him and held back his blonde bangs. Kyouya could tell Tamaki had a fever again once he had his hand on his forehead. With his other hand he rubbed the prince's back soothingly. He tucked Usa-chan under his arm so nothing would happen to Hunny's precious bunny.

Tamaki took a few deep breaths before looking up to see who was with him. "K-Kyouya…!" he said, trying to hide the burning sensation he now felt in his throat. Kyouya helped him stand up and guided him to a sink. "Idiot, why are you here? You should be at home resting, you have a fever-"

"I was looking for you," Tamaki said before he began to rinse his mouth out with water. "It was my fault you ran off, and I wanted to talk to you."

Kyouya watched silently as Tamaki washed out his mouth and face. He sighed slightly, completely expecting the answer he received. Tamaki turned around and the automated water faucet turned off, the room now more silent than either of them wanted at the time. Tamaki looked into Kyouya's eyes, and it was then that he realized the Shadow King's eyes were bloodshot.

"Kyouya…?"

"What?"

"Have you been crying…?"

Kyouya stayed quiet once more. Tamaki hugged him loosely and tightened his grip with Kyouya did not pull away.

"It was because of me, wasn't it…"

Kyouya didn't appear to want to answer, but he nodded. "Of course it was because of you, Tamaki," he said, waiting a few moments before speaking again. "You have no idea how much I've been worrying about you; Tamaki, I found out your cancer before even you did, I've lost sleep over it, my grades have started to slip…"

Tamaki released his grip on the shadow king so he could look into his eyes and licked his lips before speaking. "Kyouya," he said firmly. Kyouya's eyes immediately traveled away from Tamaki, and stayed quiet.

"I have too much to lose to die now."

Kyouya continued to stay silent, but looked up at him.

"So I'm not going to die."

"Quit acting like a fool, Tamaki. There's absolutely no guarantee that you'll live-"

"I know I'm going to die one day. But I'm in no way going to lose my life battling cancer."

After a few moments, just barely, Kyouya smiled. What started out as a tiny chuckle turned into a full blown fit of laughter. The laughter made Tamaki begin to question his friend's sanity.

"Come on. Let's go."

"B-But Kyouya-"

"I'll drive you."

Tamaki gave Kyouya an odd look. "Are you okay…?"

"Yes, now let's go, I want to go home. And I was serious about you needing to rest. …If you're going to win this battle, you're going to need all the strength you can get." Tamaki starred at Kyouya as he grabbed onto his arm. Blaming Kyouya's mood swing on the lack of sleep, Tamaki shrugged it off and followed him.

Both boys waited at the glass doors on the first floor for a limo Kyouya had called for. The limo arrived close to five minutes later and the driver opened the backseat window for them. It was past sunset, the sky was clear, and the crescent moon was showing brightly. Once in the limo, Kyouya handed Tamaki Usa-chan. Tamaki had completely forgotten about the bunny. He thanked Kyouya and rested his head on the window, holding onto Usa-chan tightly. When Kyouya looked over again, he was asleep.

Kyouya didn't bother to try to wake the prince. He picked him up carefully- not only was Kyouya stronger than he looked, but Tamaki had lost at least en pounds- and walked him into the second Suoh mansion. Inside the mansion, from what Kyouya could see, was every single host except Haruhi. They were waiting for Tamaki to return, but didn't expect to see Kyouya as well.

"Kyo-chan~!" Hunny exclaimed with a big smile on his face. Kyouya immediately hushed him.

"He's asleep."

"Oh… I'm sorry Kyo-chan."

Both the twins got up from their seats on the couch so Kyouya could lay Tamaki down. He wouldn't let go of Usa-chan, and Hunny didn't try to take the bunny from him. Tamaki didn't get to sleep long; there was a loud crash from the kitchen followed by a thump, and his eyes snapped open. Hikaru ran to the kitchen quickly, and Tamaki sat up. He knew where he was, and was only slightly surprised to see the hosts at his house.

"I wonder if Haru-chan's okay…" Hunny said, looking down the hallway.

"Harhui's in the kitchen?"

Hunny nodded.

"Who else is in there?...!"

"Nobody else but Haru-chan," He said, reaching for the bunny Tamaki abandoned.

"Except Hikaru. He's there too," Kaoru added.

Tamaki immediately jumped up and rushed to the kitchen. Hikaru was helping Haruhi off the floor, her clothes covered in tomato sauce. She sighed, clearly unhappy with the mess on herself and on the floor. Shattered glass laid around her feet.

"Haruhi, your hand-!" Hikaru yelled. There was a large shallow gash on her palm extending to her wrist, and blood dripped to the floor.

"Dammit…" she muttered under her breath. Tamaki began to panic even further, but couldn't come any closer because of the glass. His blood was having a hard time clotting, and he'd been warned against doing anything where he would injure himself; he'd bleed too easily. All he could do was watch. Hikaru guided her away from the glass, making sure neither of them stepped on it.

"I'm fine Hikaru, there isn't any glass in my hand…" she said as he began to inspect her cut.

"I just want to make sure," he said, gently holding her hand in a way that she could inspect it. Tamaki left to get medical bandages.

When he returned, Hikaru had made Haruhi sit down at in a chair. Everyone else made their way into the room as well, and Kyouya inspected the cut after Hikaru.

"It doesn't have any glass in it you guys, it isn't even that deep," she said. She didn't like the attention she was getting. Tamaki reentered the room with a somewhat large first aid kit. He got out a strip of medical bandages. He took her hand very lightly, and with hands that trembled, he wrapped her hand with the bandages.

"You should try to be more careful Haruhi…" He said quietly. The hosts looked over at him, as he wasn't freaking out or making a reference to him being her 'father'.

"It was an accident," she said, almost monotone.

"I know," he said and finished bandaging her hand and wrist. He lightly kissed her where the cut was. Her eyes widened, she blushed, and she looked away.

"Tamaki-"

"My mom used to tell me if you kissed an injury it would heal faster," he said, and smiled very slightly. None of the other hosts bothered to say anything.

"T-Thank you for that."


	7. Chapter 7

After the hosts had made sure that Haruhi was completely fine- they didn't listen to her no matter how many times she protested- the hosts had all made their way into Tamaki's pristinely clean room. She didn't realize it at the time, but she would occasionally stare at the artwork and architecture of the room. All of the wood was polished to perfection and the king sized bed's sheets had been placed so precisely she was almost afraid to sit down to wrinkle them. She then decided only a few seconds later that she didn't really care where she sat.

"What kind of things do we do at a sleepover Haru-chan? Are you going to be spending the night too?"

"I'm not spending the night, I have stuff I need to do tonight," she said. "And besides, my dad would kill all of you if I did stay here."

Hikaru and Kaoru jumped onto the bed next to her, putting their hands on her shoulders. "So it's not because you don't want to spend time with us then?" they said in unison.

She sighed, but said nothing else.

"… So what do you do at a sleepover Haruhi?"

"Well," she began, "when I'd have sleepovers with friends from my old school we'd talk for hours and watch movies, and if the weather was nice we'd go outside and hang out there."

The twins looked at Haruhi, then each other, and then again at Haruhi.

"Well that's what us _girls_ would do, okay?"

"I think watching a movie would be nice later~" Hunny said and smiled at Mori. "Do you think so too~?"

He nodded.

"It's only five!" the twins exclaimed. There's so much to do still!"

"Like what?" Tamaki asked. He tilted his head to the side just slightly without fully realizing it. The twins turned to in such a mischievous manner Tamaki's eyebrow twitched.

"Pranks!"

Kyouya sighed and snapped his notebook open. "We don't need you two to get arrested."

"No one will catch us," they said together. "And besides, we could always charm our way out of it if we were, people love us."

Haruhi snorted. "Yeah, rich moé obsessed school girls."

The twins pretended to ignore her commentary.

"What pranks are we going to pull Hika-chan…?"

He smirked. "Well, let's see…"

About an hour later, the twins had gone their separate ways away from the rest of the hosts. Tamaki was walking close to Haruhi, Hunny on Mori's shoulders and Kyouya walked behind all of them looking into his notebook. Haruhi glared at the sidewalk as she walked and tugged a bit at her clothes- the twins had nearly forced all of them into tight black clothing.

'_People are going to think we're in a gang or something,'_ she thought to herself. _'Let's hope no one gets shot or something.'_

She sighed out loud, but no one had a comment for it.

"Takashi, isn't this mean?"

He nodded.

"Then why are we doing it?"

"Because the twins think it'll be funny," Kyouya answered instead.

"Did anyone actually take that pizza out of the oven? We don't need your house burning down senpai…"

Tamaki smiled at the female host. "My daughter loves me enough to care about the safety of my house~!"

"…I just didn't want to start a fire…"

Kyouya turned to Haruhi and closed his book. "Shima took care of it for us. There's nothing to worry about."

"And then when we get home I'll get to taste her wonderful cooking~!"

"I'm sure it's already cold by now…" Her expression showed that she was only a little irritated. "Besides, it's not like I'm an Italian chef and I only cook for my dad, it won't be all that great."

"But Haru-chan!" Hunny exclaimed. "Tama-chan loves everything you cook! Except for when it has chrysanthemum."

By then Tamaki was already off in his own little world dreaming about tasting her pizza, unable to hear Hunny's statement.

They didn't walk very long. It only took a few more minutes to reach their destination; Haruhi recognized it as the apartment complex across the street from hers. She looked around, almost frantic; hoping that no one she knew would be able to tell it was her. She did look quite a bit different, but she knew once someone would see her face they'd be able to tell it was her. She had a reputation as a responsible and respectable young lady; she didn't want pranks to change that.

Kyouya pulled out his cell phone to answer a text. It was the twins, saying they were ready. As far as they knew this was just simple ding-dong-ditching. Hunny was in charge of ringing the door bell first, as he was the fastest, and if he were to be caught he had the best chance of saying he was just a kid who'd lost his parents. There weren't many places to hide, and none of them could stay together in a group; it'd be too obvious. Haruhi had the best visual of the door and was able to see Hunny run up and push the doorbell and then making his escape. Seconds later she could see the twins appear from the ceiling with a mannequin at hand.

And the mannequin was dressed up in very 'sexy' women's underwear.

'_What the hell?'_ Haruhi thought. _'Isn't this too much?'_

She ducked her head when the door opened to make sure she was not seen. The man who lived at the apartment building was a middle aged man who Haruhi would occasionally find around the liquor store; his appearance immediately made her think he was drunk. He stared the mannequin down for a few seconds, before picking it up and carrying it inside, muttering something inaudible to himself. Haruhi's eye twitched; she glanced over at Tamaki, who was staring off into space with a blush.

'_He was probably imagining me in that.'_ She sighed.

They did this for several apartment buildings before they were finally caught. Tamaki had to use his princely charm to get everyone out of the situation, and thankfully the woman said she would not report them. No one's reaction was quite as concerning as the first man's, though she felt bad for the mothers who tried to explain to their children just why the underwear was so showy. Haruhi was exhausted; the running around wore her out, and the night before she'd stayed up half the night. It wasn't all that late though, only eight, and they continued back to Tamaki's second mansion.

"Hey Senpai?" Haruhi asked. "Do you have any clothes I can borrow? I'm covered in mud."

"Of course Haruhi," he said excitedly. "But my clothes would be too big on you, they'd-"

"Senpai its fine, really, calm down."

"…Okay. I'll have Shima bring down some for you; I'm going to go take a bath."

He walked upstairs into his personal bathroom and turned on the water for his bath. Ordinarily he liked to stay in his bath as long as he could and relax, but he decided today that he'd hurry because of the guests he had over. He pulled out his favorite vanilla-scented body washes and shampoos and sat down in his tub, making sure to scrub away all the dirt and filth that was on his skin. He had to be careful to not bruise himself; he had enough of them already. It wasn't until he began to wash his hair that he noticed anything abnormal, but as he was rinsing shampoo out of his hair the water began to turn lavender. He looked up at his hair, grabbing a few strands to see if he had grabbed the wrong shampoo, and nearly screamed.

Just as Haruhi was about to sit down the hosts hear running so loud they thought someone had fallen down the stairs. In the blink of an eye Tamaki had grabbed the twins by their shoulders and started yelling at them, wearing nothing more than a towel around his waist.

"What did you do?" he shouted. "It's ruined!"

It was hard for Haruhi to ignore that Tamaki's hair had changed from being blonde to a somewhat bright purple. As she looked at him closer she could see the lavender water traveling down his body and was able to see almost all of his bruises. She blushed faintly after realizing he was only in a towel. As she was looking away he came over to her and rested his head on her shoulder, truly looking defeated.

"They ruined it…" he said quietly. "I know I wasn't going to have it much longer anyway but that's just _cruel_…"

She awkwardly patted his back, not trying to wrap her arms around him. The white shirt Shima had given her was wet now, but she was glad nothing more than her bra straps were visible. "Senpai…" she said, trying to get him to look up. "Senpai it doesn't look all that bad, and it matches your eyes, come on, don't get so depressed over it."

He lifted his head up to look at her, and with a very quiet voice he asked "Really…?" His eyes almost twinkled at her, believing she was complimenting him greatly. She nodded.

"Yeah, and wouldn't it be fun to do something crazy to your hair before your treatments?"

He thought for a moment, and then smiled brightly. "Yeah, it would!" he said. "Thank you, Haruhi~" and hugged her tightly. She stiffened.

"But, ehh, Senpai… Could you please put some clothes on…"

He looked down at himself and nearly shrieked. As quickly as he came downstairs he ran back up to clothe himself, and Haruhi wondered where he got all of his energy. She turned to the twins and gave them a stern look and said "You didn't have to freak him out like that you know."

"It was just a prank!"

"And if Haru-chan wasn't here it wouldn't have ended well…!" Hunny said, speaking up from Mori's shoulders. Hikaru and Kaoru sighed; they wouldn't admit it out loud, but they knew it was true. Tamaki made his way back downstairs again, this time fully clothed, and hugged Haruhi for the second time. She didn't push him away, but didn't necessarily hug him back either. As he let go of her his stomach growled and he laughed nervously, scratching the back of his head.

"Are you guys hungry too…?"

All but Kyouya nodded. "Yeah!"

As they walked back into the kitchen they discovered that Haruhi's pizza was stored neatly in the refrigerator, and was able to be heated up and eaten again. A chef helped them out in the kitchen this time to make sure no one else was going to be injured. She made the pizza big enough for everyone, and once the pizza was reheated they brought it back to a living area with couches and a large television to play a movie.

It was decided they would watch _Spirited Away_, one of Hunny's favorite movies. Haruhi'd seen it once before but didn't pay much attention to it then, and decided that she'd watch it again if she could keep her eyes open. It was around 10 then, but she'd stayed up so late the night before studying for a test she was exhausted, but was just able to hide it. She sat down next to Tamaki on one of the smaller couches; there was only enough room to fit the two of them. Tamaki covered himself with a blanket and offered her part of the blanket as well, but she declined, saying he needed it more than she did. From what she could tell he was more tired than she was, and was ready to fall asleep any moment.

Haruhi watched the movie with vague interest until about halfway through it, when her eyes started to drift off. She felt something against her shoulder and looked down; Tamaki had fallen asleep on her without realizing it. She didn't bother to move as she didn't want to disturb him. His hair was still damp and was completely in his face, and his eyes were closed gently as if he was sleeping peacefully. The corner of her mouth twitched up very slightly, but she couldn't help but think to herself that he looked really nice and calm. The blanket lay around him loosely and there was enough room for her to cover herself up with it too; with her mind groggy and she didn't think he'd mind if she used part of the blanket too. After all, he originally offered, right? With one hand she took the blanket and covered herself with it too, and fell asleep leaning into him.


	8. Chapter 8

As she opened her eyes Haruhi couldn't remember where she was. She knew she was warm- almost to the point of sweating- but she felt comfortable. Safe, even. In the direction she was facing it was dark, but there was light shinning behind her. Music played quietly; she recalled it being the theme song for Spirited Away. She didn't want to move her body, but she turned her head in the direction of the television. She noticed an arm rested gently across her stomach and she could feel a small blush creep onto her face realizing whose arm it was.

Tamaki was sound asleep, snoring so softly it couldn't be heard over the television. His head rested near her neck and with every inhale and exhale she could fee his warm breath on her skin. Her blush worsened, and goose bumps began to quickly form. Her heart began to race as he moved in closer to her, but she didn't move in fear of waking him up. As he moved his arm it tightened around her, and a small content sigh left his lips.

She found herself wide-eyed staring at the back of the couch. The feeling of warmth radiating off him was nice, but she became alarmed when she thought it could be because of a fever. When she gained enough courage she turned to her side, now facing Tamaki. She placed her hand on his cheek to feel his skin and she frowned at his fever. However slight it was, it worried her.

She knew if he or any of the other hosts woke up right now there would be trouble. She didn't move her hand from his face, none-the-less. She closed her eyes with no intent to sleep- she wanted to sleep, but she couldn't. Not while she was in this position anyway.

She allowed her mind to wander to various different things. She wondered what time it was and how long everyone had been asleep for. She figured she had probably fallen asleep before everyone else. She wondered if her father was awake, wondering where she was. She was certain he was worried. But she didn't move to find her phone to text him of her whereabouts. Her mind drifted back to Tamaki- she wondered what, if anything, he was dreaming about. There was a small soft smile upon his face. She wondered, if only for a second, if he was dreaming about her.

Her mind continued to wander for what seemed like hours. She yawned quietly and nuzzled her head into her pillow next to Tamaki's chest. Her thoughts had tired her out, and slowly she allowed her eyes to flutter closed. She began to dream of pleasant things, and subconsciously leaned in closer to her lavender haired friend.

Alright… So I know this is a pretty shitty excuse for a chapter. And I really do apologize for its length. And I also sincerely apologize for the amount of time it's been since I last updated. School towards the end of the year last year drove me to stop writing and honestly I haven't even looked at this story until about a week ago. But I have decided to update a story once weekly. I'll be starting another story soon for Hetalia, though it will be much shorter than this story will be (less than 10 chapters. The idea started out as a oneshot, and I've had the idea since the Summer of 2011). I plan to update a story every Sunday, and it's up to you to hold me accountable for it! And after this one chapter, my chapters will go back to their normal length. I swear it on my life!


	9. Chapter 9

The second time she awoke it wasn't to such pleasant circumstances. She could see various different lights- flashes- going off above her head. She squinted as she opened her eyes and glared at the source of it. Above her stood both twins with flashing cameras. Their smirks and chuckles disappeared when they could see she was awake. Before she could snap they quickly yelled in unison, "Kyouya put us up to it!"

She sat up quickly and looked around the room for Kyouya, who was relaxing on one of the couches, head buried in his notebook and smiling a smug smile. She sighed out of frustration, not catching the attention of any of the others. She knew that she wouldn't be able to get the cameras away from the twins without waking Tamaki, so she reluctantly let her anger slip from her mind.

"Hey, Hunny-senpai, could you hand me my cell phone? It's in my bag over there," she said, pointing to a wall to the right. She watched Hunny rummage through her bag and happily hand it to her.

"Here you go Haru-chan~"

She wondered how he could be so awake so early in the morning before she realized it wasn't in fact as early as she had thought. Almost 11 o'clock. And she'd also noticed the dozens of texts and calls from her father. She resolved to turn the ringer on the phone after she got out of school every day.

Before she could dial the phone to call him, her phone began to violently vibrate with his picture on the screen. She picked it up on the first ring.

"Haruhi?! Where are you and why haven't you been answering my calls, are you safe, no one kidnapped you did they?! Daddy's coming to get your right now!"

"Dad, _Dad_, calm down-"

"Don't tell me to calm down young lady; you've been missing all night long!"

"I'm fine, I swear- I'll be home in an hou-"

"I'm already heading out the door; just tell me where you are!" She sighed, knowing his response would be drastic.

"I fell asleep at Tamaki-senpai's house… all the hosts are here…"

She pulled her phone away from her ear as he began frantically yelling in concern. She could hear the twins mutter "maybe that wasn't the best idea" before she mentally sighed once again. When the yelling stopped she put her phone back to her head and quietly said "Dad?"

But the line had gone dead.

Only seconds later did the French doors to the living room violently open. Her father stood up tall fully equipped with a baseball bat, ready to hit anyone who got in the way of his precious daughter. When he spotted her seconds later she was immediately picked up off her spot on the couch. Thankfully, she thought, Tamaki's still sleeping.

"You were _SLEEPING_ with him?!"

"Yes, and _just sleeping_! We fell asleep watching a movie!"

"Shhhhhhhh!" Hunny whispered with a finger over his mouth, tucking both Usa-chan and Kuma-chan in with Tamaki. "Don't wake him up…! Tama-chan's still not feeling very good."

Haruhi wiggled out of her father's grasp and made her way to the other side of the couch. With her hand rested on his forehead she thought to herself "And he has another fever too…"

Kyouya began speaking to Ranka, calming him down slightly and explaining the situation in greater detail. Ranka was still quite mad, but no longer infuriated. Truthfully he was relieved to know she was just with her host friends and that her life wasn't in any danger. He began hugging her again when she walked back over to him, now with her bag and school blazer.

"I'll personally notify you if something like this happens again," Kyouya said, holding Ranka's hand in an assuring way.

"I just wish you would've thought of that last night Kyouya, and quite honestly I'd prefer that it never happen again."

Moments later his stomach growled loudly, and he laughed to hide his slight embarrassment.

"Did you eat last night Dad?"

"No, I was busy worrying about you."

"Let's go get something to eat then. We haven't done that in a while."

"Wait, Haruhi, you're leaving?" The twins asked, and she nodded.

"I'll see you guys at school tomorrow," she said with a smile and a small wave goodbye.

As she walked out of Tamaki's manor her smile began to fade and her father instantly noticed. She sat down in the passenger seat of her father's car and he drove to an okonomiyaki shop near their apartment. As she got out of the car she tucked the rest of her dress shirt in and took off her tie in an effort to make herself look more presentable.

As their orders were filled and their food was made the two hardly talked. Haruhi had ordered a small cup of tea and she sat at her seat, quietly sipping it. She had sat staring at her teacup for a while, and her father sat across from her worrying about what might be on her mind.

"Haruhi?"

"Hmm?" She looked up at him and sat her teacup down.

"You've been so upset lately… I don't know what happened, and you don't talk to me. Would you please tell me what's on your mind?..."

While nodding Haruhi remained quiet for a few moments. She couldn't look at her father when she decided to speak.

"I… I found out recently that… Tamaki, he…" she took a deep breath and continued somberly. "He was diagnosed with leukemia recently."

Her response was nothing that her father expected. His eyes widened and he let out very small gasp. Her hands were clutched in tight fists and rested on her lap, and she let a tear roll down her face. Her father got up from his seat and wrapped his arms around her tightly in a comforting way. She let herself cry quietly with her head on his chest and he did his best to consol and comfort her.

She cried and cried and didn't care who saw. Since she had found out about his condition she hadn't let herself cry; she was trying her absolute best to stay strong for Tamaki, but she found it increasingly difficult to keep her feelings inside. It was another form of leukemia that took her mother away from her when she was young. The thought of losing Tamaki now killed her inside.

It took everything out of her to stop herself from crying. She wiped her eyes with the back of her sleeve, but didn't move away from her father.

"Do you need a tissue…?" Her father asked quietly. She shook her head no, though her father got a few out of his purse anyway. She wiped her eyes and quietly blew her nose, but other than that she didn't move. She hid her face again, feeling almost all the eyes in the room on her and it made her feel uncomfortable.

With sadness in Ranka's eyes he slowly pulled away from his daughter, waning to look her in the eyes. She didn't want to look up, and knowing she wouldn't he said softly, "Haruhi, look at me…"

She tilted her head upwards but didn't say a word.

"I don't want you to never have to feel like you have to keep everything to yourself like you always have… I'm here for you Haruhi, just like I always have been." She nodded in response.

"You don't need to feel like you're alone in this, you're not—you have me, and all of your other friends-"

"I don't want them to see me like this Dad…"

"I know, I know."

She rubbed her eyes once. "But I knew what you meant." She tried to smile but couldn't manage to. Ranka leaned down and lovingly kissed her forehead.

"But he's going to need you too." She leaned down and put her head on his chest again, nodding very slightly.

"I know."

"More than he ever has before."

"What if he…"

"Don't think like that. He'll make it. You can't be thinking like that Haruhi."

She nodded again. "Alright."


	10. Chapter 10

"Haruhi?" one of the customers asked in her direction. "Are you doing something different with your hair? It looks like it's really getting longer."*

Haruhi smiled politely at her. "I am, I'm actually going to grow it out."

The customers looked pleasantly surprised, and Haruhi had managed to catch the attention of many of the others in the room, including the other hosts. "Really~?" one customer asked. Haruhi nodded.

"Not too long though, I want to grow it out just long enough to where I can donate it."

"Donate it?" The twins asked, moving to her sides.

"If it gets long enough a company will be able to make a wig out of it for a child who's lost their hair to cancer-related alopecia."

Some of the customers had let out a quiet gasp. "I didn't know there were companies like that, but it sounds wonderful~" one said.

"I don't know what I'd do if I ever lost all my hair…!" another said, looking at the ends of her locks.

"A lot of people are like that," Haruhi said. "So if I can donate some of my hair to help someone have hair I'm more than happy to grow it out." She let out a nice smile, which appeared somewhat apologetic. "I just hope you ladies don't mind some of the awkward stages my hair will go through as it's growing."

"No no, not at all!" They exclaimed. "I actually think you would look very beautiful with long hair!"

As Tamaki listened to Haruhi he hadn't realized that he had been mostly ignoring his current customer. While she was listening too, the customer turned back to Tamaki when the other girls started speaking to Haruhi and dominating the conversation. "I think it's really sweet what Haruhi's doing to his hair," she said, hoping to gain his attention. "Don't you?"

Tamaki nodded before looking back at his customer. "It is…"

Sensing the sad tone in his voice she turned her body towards him and looked him in the eyes. "Do you know someone with cancer, Tamaki?"

He nodded softly. "I do Madame, I do."

"Oh, Tamaki, I'm so sorry to hear that…"

She could tell he didn't want to continue the conversation, so she turned her attention to his hair. "Oh, but Tamaki?"

"Yes?"

"Why exactly is your hair purple?"

He laughed, trying to quickly and calmly think of a feasible explanation, and when he couldn't think of anything he desperately hoped she would buy his bluff.

"Well Madame, I was saving unicorns in a field of flowers last night from dragons and when I did the unicorns had given me the gift of purple hair."

While his current customer stared blankly at him as if silently asking him "What the hell?", some of the other customers clapped and squealed. "Did you really do that~?!" they exclaimed happily.

"O-Of course I did!"

Haruhi, hearing his rather loud response, had a very similar reaction to the one his current customer had. _He's really off his game today_, she thought to herself. _Though I guess I wouldn't know how to explain purple hair either… but it certainly wouldn't be like that._

"I think the boss has finally lost it," the twins said, looking to each other and shrugging.

"Hey, I have not!" Tamaki yelled. "It's your fault anyway!" The twins held up their hands defensively, and some of the girls giggled understanding that it was probably just a prank.

_This is getting to be too much for me today._

Thankfully for Haruhi the usual Host Club antics were ending soon. The fuss about Tamaki's hair had subsided only slightly, and it seemed his popularity had skyrocketed in only a matter of minutes. Once her customers had left her for Tamaki she decided she would eat a piece of cake with Hunny.

"Haru-chan, we have lots of strawberry cake today~" he said smiling and taking a bite out of his third piece of cake.

"Mmhmm, it tastes pretty good."

"You hardly ever eat cake during the club though, are you feeling okay?"

She nodded. "I woke up late today and forgot my lunch at home."

"How come you didn't buy a lunch?"

"I've got to use my money to buy groceries this week, I can't spend it all on a single meal…"

"I could've bout you a lunch Haru-chan!"

Feeling Kyouya's smug glance at her she simply smiled and politely replied to Hunny, "Thanks, but I knew there would be plenty of food here after school, so I didn't mind waiting."

"Oh, well if you're sure~" he smiled and finished off his cake.

Moments later Haruhi could hear loud clapping in Tamaki's direction. He sat down on top of the tables, and while it didn't help his hight at all it made him the center of attention.

"Everyone, I have some very important new regarding the Host Club and myself," he said loudly enough for everyone to hear. All of the customers in the room turned to look at him, a few curiously whispering to the others.

"Is the Host Club ending Tamaki…?" one said.

"No no darling, it's not ending. I however will no longer be seeing regular customers…" he paused for a moment and took a quiet deep breath. "I'll actually be taking a leave from school as well. I was diagnosed with leukemia recently, and I'm afraid I simply won't be well enough to come in every day once I begin my treatments."

Every customer in the room had seemed to be in a state of shock. The room was silent and so tense it almost hurt Haruhi to breathe. She placed her hand on top of his for a bit of support. He held onto it loosely, waiting for the girl's reactions.

He had seen a few of them begin to cry. Others looked incredibly worried. But the majority were simply stunned—they hadn't had the slightest idea that something so wrong had been on his mind the entire time everyone was laughing and joking, carrying on happily all afternoon. Some of the customers had swarmed around him, almost as if they were trying to comfort him.

Chills had gone down Tamaki's spine, and goose bumps graced his skin. He spoke quietly, mentally willing himself to stay calm. "I-I'll be away for a few weeks at first, and I'm almost certain that I'll have to repeat this school year..." he said. "But I've already decided that I will come in whenever I feel I am well enough. I don't want the Host Club ending.

"Tamaki, you don't need to worry about us… Y-You just need to focus on getting better…!" The customers sniffled and cried. Tamaki knew from the start that their reactions would be like this; he tried to prepare himself beforehand, but he didn't think it would be this difficult. He got off the table and gave comforting hugs to the guests that were really upset. He was just as upset and afraid as his customers, but he knew that right now simply wasn't the place to display it.

Even Renge was upset and openly showed it. No one had actually told her of Tamaki's condition; they weren't sure how she would respond. She cried along with the rest of the customers, blotting her tears away from her face with a tissue. Some of the other customers offered Tamaki their condolences and prayers. The hosts didn't' mind allowing them to stay longer than the Host Club ran, and they all had personally made sure the girls had stopped crying before they left.

Tamaki, sitting down on one of the couches, quietly sipped a cup of coffe. An air of sadness loomed around him, and he didn't try and smile. He looked into his coffee cup, staring at his reflection. He took a deep breath in and let it out slowly, a way for his mind to clear out negativity.

"I start my chemotherapy tomorrow," he said. "I'll have to stay in the hospital when it starts."

Hunny sat down next to Tamaki on the couch. He leaned against Tamaki's side, and eventually looked up at his face. "We're gonna visit all the time," Hunny said. "Whenever we can—but Usa-chan gets to stay with you."

"Hmm?"

Hunny nodded. "Usa-chan's gonna stay with you and keep you company!"

"Hunny you don't have to do that, really," he said, looking down at his shorter friend.

"Nu-uhh, I want to," he said, holding Usa-chan out to him. "Just make sure you take really really really good care of him, and in return he'll make sure to keep you super happy."

Tamaki smiled softly and took Usa-chan from Hunny's arms. "Thank you Hunny; I promise to take really really really good care of him." Hunny replied by smiling brightly.

"Takashi bout you something," he said and turned to his cousin. "Do you have it with you?"

Mori nodded and got a large square book out of his book bag. "It's a scrapbook," he said. "So we can mark your recovery on paper."

"We already put the first couple pictures in there!" the twins happily exclaimed.

"Of what, my hair?" Tamaki questioned, opening the scrapbook. Instantly his face turned red and he quickly flipped through the pages wondering just how many of the pictures there were of Haruhi and him cuddling in their sleep on his couch.

"I hope you're not selling these pictures," Haruhi said in a threatening way. "And I hope my father won't see them either."

"Oh don't worry Haruhi," Kyouya said. "These pictures are strictly personal. Only we've seen them."

Haruhi sighed but sat down next to Tamaki on the couch. "There's lots of room for new pictures, too," she said.

"And we intend to take a _ton_," the twins said. Tamaki smiled. "And it should give you something to do while you're in the hospital. If you're feeling up to it and all."

"And it's not just for us, you can put pictures of new friends in there too, just make sure you don't forget about us—well, Usa-chan wouldn't let you anyway."

"I won't, I won't!" Tamaki exclaimed. "I promise!"

"Good!" Hunny hugged Tamaki and Usa-chan with a smile on his face. "'Cause we're never gonna forget about you either."

Haruhi sat in her father's car, messing with the thread of her knee-lengthed sundress. The radio played softly and she focused on it as much as she could. Her father hummed along to the song as he normally did when he drove. She yawned and lifted her head to look out the window, and she saw the large garden of flowers in front of an incredibly large hospital. It was one of the biggest hospitals in the country, and arguably one of the best. She had never actually seen it in person, and for a moment she was struck with awe.

"What time do you want me to pick you up sweetie?"

"I'll call you," Haruhi said. "I'll stay for a pretty long time though. You could go back to work if you need to."

"No, I'll just be running some errands. Do you need anything from the grocery store while I'm out?"

Haruhi got out a small note from her purse and handed it to him. "I was going to go tomorrow, but if you want to get some of that now," she said.

He nodded. "I will." Ranka kissed his daughter's cheek and watched her get out of the car. "You know where you're going, right?"

Haruhi nodded with a soft smile. "'Got the room number right here," she said, patting her purse. "I'll see you later dad."

Her father waited until she walked inside before he drove away. Haruhi asked a receptionist where she could start looking for Tamaki's room, but was thankful when another nurse told her she would direct Haruhi to the room.

She stood at the door for a moment, trying to listen in to the voices in his room. The walls and doors were thick and everything was so muffled she couldn't actually hear what was being said. She wasn't sure whether or not she should enter the room not knowing if the person with Tamaki was a doctor or nurse. She decided to enter anyway, and the doctor didn't stop his conversation with Tamaki to pay her any attention.

"And have you and your family already decided whether or not you want to go ahead with sperm banking?"

Haruhi wasn't exactly sure whether she should leave the room or stay. "E-Eh, yes, I've already taken care of that," Tamaki said, his expression poorly hiding his embarrassment. Haruhi allowed herself to blush slightly at the topic, but tried to force it away as fast as she could. She saw Kyouya sitting in a doctor's stool paying attention to everything the doctor said and writing it down in a notebook. She sat down on the edge of one of the reclining chairs, setting her purse on the floor. She turned to Tamaki and the doctor; as the doctor noticed her presence, he ended the conversation quickly.

"Good, good, do you have any paperwork for it?"**

Tamaki nodded. "My father should, yes. He's in the cafeteria at the moment."

The doctor nodded in understanding. "Alright. As long as you don't have any further questions we can begin your treatment within the hour." The doctor turned to Haruhi and Kyouya, asking them the question, "Neither of you are sick, are you?"**

"No, we're not." Kyouya said, answering for the both of them. "And we haven't been for months."

"Excellent." He turned his attention back to Tamaki. "A nurse will be in shortly to prepare you for your chemo."

"Thank you," Tamaki said, and watched the doctor walk out of the room. He turned towards Haruhi, and with Usa-chan in his lap he rested his head on his, hugging the stuffed bunny. "I'm sorry you had to walk in and hear… that."

"Don't be," she responded. "I should've knocked first. …And it's not like it's a taboo topic, I knew you'd be asked it before chemo, I didn't mean to interrupt."

"I think between you and Kyouya you know more about this disease than I ever will," he said.

"Well, I have done my research. How's Usa-chan? Hunny wanted me to ask," she said. Tamaki laughed light-heartedly for a moment.

"He's doing fine, he is pretty good company. Though I'm afraid Kuma-chan will get jealous of him pretty fast. He's vicious."

"Just be sure to give him just as much attention then," she added. "He'll be fine."

"I wouldn't get either of them too comfortable though," Kyouya said.

"I won't," Tamaki said with a nod. "I don't plan to be here any longer than I need to be."

And he smiled, a hopeful and afraid smile, but ready to conquer whatever came in his way.

I apologize for the late update—I could have updated the past two Sundays, but I didn't want to end on anything upsetting (again). After this chapter it'll start to lighten up (or at least I plan for it to); I'll be out of the state for the weekend, which is why I am updating on Friday instead of Sunday, but I feel like I will have a lot of free time to write while I'm in the car so if all goes well I _might_ be able to get something up on Sunday night as well.

*Fun Fact: the entire idea of this story was based off of my friend's (Victoria62015) incredibly long hair that she wanted to donate. We decided we wanted to plan a story where a character grew their hair out for charity, and we came to the conclusion pretty fast that we wanted it to be Haruhi. The entire idea for Wilting Roses was planned around her growing her hair and donating it! She's got a pretty wonderful Ouran story too (Butterfly Child), and if you haven't read it yet you should definitely go check it out!

**Keep in mind that I am not a doctor, and I do not have any medical degrees. I research as much as I possibly can (like, I've put in at least a dozen hours into researching for this story _so far_), but because I can't actually speak with a doctor I have to sometimes make things up or just guess at what might actually happen.


	11. Chapter 11

He had been in the hospital for several weeks before Tamaki felt he was well enough for visitors. He imagined from everything he had been told that the beginning was the worst, and it seemed that every day he had to remind himself of that. With each passing day of the intense chemo he would wake up to find more and more of his hair on his pillow, and while he knew it was coming it was only another blow to his confidence. His skin was considerably paler, and while he hadn't been paying any attention to his weight on a scale he knew he had dropped more than a few pounds. He could hardly keep anything down, after all.

The only person he saw on a regular basis, other than his father, doctors, and a nurse from America named Emma, was Haruhi. She would visit at roughly the same time every day, four o'clock on school days and noon on days off. On many of the days he slept a good majority of her stay, and when he was asleep she would take the time to do her school work. He appreciated her company though, and tried to stay awake while she visited, even if all they did was sit in silence or watch television together in his room.

Haruhi had started somewhat of a trend at school. Soon after Tamaki's chemo began she had started to wear a small orange ribbon next to her school's crest on her blazer. The conflicting colors caused the ribbon to stand out, and it was noticed by everyone pretty quickly. The first day that she wore it she got in trouble with a few of her teachers for violating the dress code, but when she came into school the next day all of the regular customers had worn ribbons on their uniforms as well. With the amount of people wearing the ribbons the teachers and administrators quit trying to stop the students.

Tamaki's popularity had caused the orange ribbons to quickly spread outside of the Host Club and their regular customers. By the end of the month nearly the entire student body wore an orange ribbon somewhere on their uniform.

With winter approaching faster than anyone wanted it to the Host Club had once again switched to their more tropical themes. It wasn't quite the same without Tamaki, but his absence caused what one might call a power vacuum- it was popular with the customers, and it brought in more profits for Kyouya, so he didn't mind everyone's antics. Hikaru and Kaoru tried desperately to make themselves the current 'most popular hosts'. They didn't have much competition, but when the customers found out Hunny had given Usa-chan to Tamaki his popularity skyrocketed. With all the hosts trying their absolute hardest to please everyone, many customers gravitated to Haruhi because of her calm, level-headed nature.

"Haruhi?" one of her regulars asked. "Have you heard anything about Tamaki's condition? How is he?"

"He's doing a lot better than he was. He still doesn't have nearly the energy he did, and he won't for a while. He's been a little depressed lately, though."

The girls nodded sadly in understanding. "Do you think he would like it if we sent flowers?"

"I'm not sure if that'd be the best idea," she said. "Sometimes chemotherapy patients can have a pretty bad reaction to flowers. But I know he'd really love it if you sent him letters or cards."

The girls smiled. "Would you bring them to him if we did?"

Haruhi smiled and nodded. "Of course."

The girls smiled and began discussing with each other what they wanted to include in their cards. Haruhi knew she would have several cards before the end of the week.

Tamaki had decided that he wanted all the hosts to visit him that Saturday. While Haruhi visited daily it was rarer to see all the others. Kyouya came by almost as often as Haruhi, and whenever Tamaki had a question he tended to go to him once his doctors had confused him. Mori, Hunny, and the twins had made sure to visit once or twice a week at the minimum, and they simply didn't visit because he didn't have the energy.

"Hey, Haruhi," the twins said after most of the customers had left. "You see the boss most often, how's he doing?"

She pushed some of her hair behind her ear and sat down in a chair. "A little better than the last time you saw him... but still pretty bad." They nodded in understanding.

"Is he still on for Saturday? I haven't heard from him," Kaoru asked. Haruhi nodded.

"We'll only be able to stay for a couple hours, but yeah, we're all still going."

"I want to do something for him," Hikaru said. "I'm just not sure what."

"I think I know what you could do," Hunny said, standing in front of them.

"What's that?"

"You could make him laugh! You're good at that."

"Make him laugh?" they questioned.

"Tama-chan probably hasn't laughed in a really long time. I'm sure he'd feel a little bit better if he laughed."

While the twins stayed quiet for a moment, they did eventually smile. "You know, that's a pretty good idea Hunny," Kaoru said.

"That won't be too hard," Hikaru said. "We can do that."

Haruhi smiled. She felt a bit better about everyone visiting, no longer as worried that it might turn out badly.

Haruhi turned to the hosts as they walked through the hospital's halls. "He might be asleep," she said. "He's not supposed to be, but you should keep quiet anyway."

"Hey, you don't need to look at us when you say that," Hikaru and Kaoru said. Haruhi just put a finger over her lips to tell him to hush.

Tamaki, for the past few hours, had been sitting awake in his bed. A popular cartoon was playing on the television for noise, but he gave all of his attention to a book he was writing in. He looked up and smiled at his friends when they made their way in (making sure to stay as quiet as possible). He closed his book and put it under his pillow as they entered, but the twins had already grown curious as to what was written inside.

"Hey boss, what's that?"

"It's just a bucket list I was working on."

They pulled it out from under his bed. "Really now?"

"Hey...!"

The twins flipped through the book, staring intently at everything written down. "You don't know how to ride a bike...?!" they exclaimed.

"Well... no, I never learned...!"

"Really Tama-chan? You've never ridden a bike before?"

Kyouya flipped through the book once he took it away from the twins. "It looks like there' a lot of things you haven't done Tamaki."

"I guess that's true..."

Haruhi glanced over at the book too. "You've never gone canoeing, senpai?" He shook his head now.

"Well boss, we'll have to change that," the twins said. "And it will change within..." they glanced at each other.

"A year," Hikaru started.

"Yeah, a year," Kaoru said.

"A year is good."

"Think I'll really be able to do all that in a year?"

"Of course you will!"

"You can't honestly tell me that," he said, looking down at his hands. Haruhi had become used to his increasingly pessimistic behaviors already, but it pained her to see him openly speak to everyone about how he thought about his life.

"Well..." their eyes dropped. Each twin sat on each side of the bed.

Kaoru began: "Even if it takes two years, or three-"

"We'll make sure that you'll be able to do everything in that book."

Tamaki smiled a very small smile, not quite hopeful, but still believing that his hosts would try and bring him happiness.

Haruhi's eyes caught attention to one particular note: '-see my mother again'. Kyouya seemed to notice it as well, and while both took a mental note of it neither said anything about it.

"Hey, Tama-chan, has Usa-chan been keeping you company?"

"Mmhmm, he has," Tamaki said while nodding. He held out the pink bunny to Hunny, and Hunny instantly clung onto him, silently needing the comfort.

The hosts had stayed with Tamaki for a few hours. Tamaki had fallen asleep around 2 o'clock, and in order to prevent disturbing him everyone left to the hospital's cafeteria.

"Tama-chan looked really sad..." Hunny said, placing his head on top of Usa-chan's and leaning against Mori's side.

"He's trying to hide it though," Kaoru said. Hikaru nodded in agreement.

"I think he's most upset about the fact that he can't get up and do the things that he used to be able to at the moment," Haruhi said.

"Any estimate on when he'll be able to get out of the hospital for a day?"

She shook her head. "It'll still be a while."

"Haruhi?" Kyouya asked.

"Hm?"

"What about you, how have you been? Are you still taking care of yourself?"

Seeing her on a daily basis no one really sat down and asked her how she was doing. She nodded at Kyouya and said, "Yeah, I am. Don't worry." While she said she was alright she knew the hosts probably didn't think that was the case. She'd closed herself off more than normal, and while she knew it wasn't healthy, in her mind, it was the easiest way to cope. While she hadn't talked openly about it she knew all of the others knew about her mother and how she had passed, and upon learning about it the hosts had realized how much more personal Tamaki's illness was to her than it was to him.

"But thank you for asking, I appreciate it."


End file.
